By most conventional signs, the prices of food to the U.S. consumer should now be coming down after two years of dizzying and painful rises. Prices received by farmers for some key items wheat, corn, cattle, hogsdropped sharply last spring, record harvests are anticipated and the surge in agricultural exports that did much to boost U.S. food prices last year is now waning (TIME, July 1). Yet only a few grocery prices for poultry, eggs, dairy goods and some cuts of beef and porkhave come down significantly. On average, retail food prices rose .9% in May, a month during...
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